$2,284.80

That’s the estimated cost of hiring 11 pipers to pipe for you this Christmas. I don’t know about you, but that far exceeds the Christmas budget around here…even for my true love–though he’d be worth it. 🙂

Today, as I was prepping for 11th Day of Christmas pie baking (prep work makes the whole thing so much easier, by the way), I was thinking about the cost of baking pies.

For one pie, not very much at all, really. Even if you paid someone by the hour to do it, pie-making’s not too pricey.

But what if you tried to estimate the real value of time?

You just can’t. How much would you pay for the experience of watching your kids open presents? How much for baking together? For dancing with the one you love? How much would you pay to sit in the peace and quiet with your coffee? What is the cost of the time it takes to read a Christmas card from someone you really miss? What’s it worth for an hour of loud, happy family around a table of good food?

Priceless.

I know that’s cliché these days, but it’s so true. And that’s one of the reasons I’m so happy to have a GUEST STAR on my blog today. My brothers-in-law are here from Illinois, and they wanted to get in on the pie-baking action. So today, my brother-in-law, Clay, and I are whipping up a couple of Piping Hot Chocolate Chess Pies. I’m so thankful for the time we have together! We’re not really “piping” anything, but it’s the closest I could get to those piping pipers.

We’re baking two. One’s going with us to a family get-together tonight, and the other’s for some folks who just need some Christmas cheer–they need Christmas to hurry up! So we’ll bring a little Christmas in a pie plate.

We used a recipe I’ve used before; cocoa, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and evaporated milk. Seems like it turned out great. We’ll see when we cut into it tonight. Besides, whipped cream makes stuff taste awesome, so we’re taking that with us, too.

It didn’t take long to prepare the pies, and we had a good time working on a puzzle while we waited for them to bake.

Twelve days ’till Christmas!

I, much like my children, cannot wait for Christmas day. So to celebrate this wonderful season and fill the days with fun, today begins

THE 12 PIES OF CHRISTMAS!

Woot!

Now, this guy is not a partridge by any means, but he’s cute, and he plays an important role in today’s Christmas pie, Pear Pie with Streusel and Caramel Sauce. I found the recipe when I was researching the 12 Days of Christmas online.

Historically, the 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 25, but there’s no way I’m waiting until then. Soon after that, people are thinking about diets and stuff, and I’m gonna need help eating all these pies!

The pear part of the pie was pretty basic. I used a store-bought crust because I had one. The pie ingredients included pears, of course, mixed with sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Easy enough.

I decided to add the “partridge” because he helps keep the pie from getting too juicy, and more importantly, because the First Day of Christmas Pie MUST include a partridge.

The topping for the pie was a crumbly, struesel stuff made of butter, flour, and brown sugar. I mixed it up with a fork and sprinkled it over the fruit filling. The pie baked for an hour and only cooled for about 10 minutes before me and my “true love” dug in. It seemed fitting to share the first piece with him–he makes every day feel like Christmas!

It only took a few minutes to make the caramel sauce on the stove top. It had brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, and a little water.

Now, the slice didn’t really look very slicy, but when I poured that caramel sauce on top and had a bite, it didn’t matter. Many, many thanks for whoever created this recipe–I would have never thought of adding that sauce. So tasty!

It was the perfect after-lunch treat for me and the hubby on a chilly, gray afternoon.

What a delicious way to count down the 12 Days of Christmas!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s pie, and

find a way to celebrate today–whether you’ve got a real partridge or not!

fortyandtwentyblackbirds

because life, like pie, is so good.

Tag: christmas pie

The 12 Pies of Christmas: Piping Hot Chocolate Chess Pie